Combustion power liquid



Patented Sept. 6, 1938 UNITED STATS- 2,128,910 COMBUSTION rowan moon) Joseph Elliott Bludworth, Arlington, Tex, as-

signor to Celanesc Corporation of America, a corporation of Delaware 7 No Drawing.

11 Claims.

This invention relates to an anti-knock combustion motor fuel and to the method of pro-' atoms with a gasoline under such conditions that there is no separation of the alcohol from the gasoline upon standing. Other objects of the invention will appear from the following detailed description.

15 By employing this invention, there is produced not only an improved power fuel from an anti-.

knock point of .view but a mixed fuel having a very high degree of stability. This latter fact is of extreme importance. Methyl and ethyl alcohol arebeing produced in large quantities as byproducts in'various industries and a wider market for the same has long been sought. Such alcohols have not been used as a' diluent or as an anti-knock agent in combustion motor fuel, such as gasoline, due to the unstable mixture which they form with gasoline. Prior to this in;

vention, very expensive reagents were required to form even temporarily stable mixtures. By employing this invention, mixtures of gasoline and a low molecular weight alcohol may be made, which mixtures are substantially permanent and which will withstand storage, temperature changes and .partial evaporation without separation.

In accordance with my invention, I form an anti-knock combustion motor fuel by. first adding and mixing with either straight run or cracked'gasoline from '0.1 to 1.0% or more by volume of a solubilizing agent comprising a heavy end product formed in the oxygenation of butane 40 and similar hydrocarbons, and then adding from 3 to 20% or more, based on the volume of gasoline, of methyl or ethyl alcohol.v The heavy end product from the oxygenation of butane may be obtained by the method described in my oopending application S. No; 50,519, filed November 19, 1935. This heavy end product may contain from 2 to 4 parts by volume of propyl alcohol (propanol), and from 2 to 4 parts of butyl alcohol (butanol), and about 5 parts of other 5 and oxygenated compounds having a boiling point above '70 and being free of acids.

By adding from 15 to 20%, based on the volume 4 of gasoline, of methanol, in accordance with this invention, to a gasoline having an octane num- 5 her of 56, a suitable gasoline-alcohol mixture is alcohols Application January 25, 1936 Serial No. 60,889

obtained having an octane number of '75 or above. Although the presence of mm 3 to 20% by volume of methyl alcohol in asoline is usually sufficient to produce a good anti-knock motor'fuel,

a larger percentage of alcohol may be employed, 5 for instance, a mixture of 75% alcohol and 25% gasoline may be employed as a motor fuel. Ethyl or methyl alcohol, or a mixture of these, may be employed as a diluent and anti-knock material to be added to the gasoline.

Any suitable type of gasoline or motor fuel may be employed. For instance, I may employ straight run or cracked motor fuels having specific gravity of about .7742 and boiling range varying between 42 C. and 200 C. By the term gaso- 15 line as used in this specification and the appended claims, I mean all motor fuel base materials having the above properties.

For the purpose of describing this invention and in the appended claims, I use the term solubiliz- 20 ing agent to mean a substance which when added to the gasoline permits of the mixing of the alcohol therewith or the compounding of the alcohol therewith to form a compound containing the gasoline and alcohol in'such a condition 25 that the two do not separateupon standing, changes of temperature, etc. As a suitable solubilizing agent I may employ a mixture of propanol and butanol, I prefer, however, to employ the heavy end products resulting from the oxygena- 30 tion of butane and similar hydrocarbons. This heavy end fraction contains propanol and bu-' tanol along with other organic compounds, the mixture of which forms an excellent solubilizing agent for methyl and ethyl alcohol in gasoline. 35 The mixture of methyl and ethyl alcohol in gasoline made with a 'solubilizing agent comprising the heavy end fraction referred to above is extremely stable and no separation of constituents 'can be detected after many months standing 40 through normal atmospheric conditions and changes of temperature.

' For the purpose of acquiring solubilizing agents,

I prefer to employ butane as the hydrocarbon to be oxygenated. Other hydrocarbons, how- 4.5 ever, such as propane, pentane, light petroleum distillates, gas, oil, etc., either alone or in admixture with each other, may be employed. The hydrocarbon is preferably oxygenated according to the process described in my U. S. application S.'No.' 50,519 referred to above. This is accom plished by mixing the hydrocarbon with oxygen, then subjecting this mixture to steam at a .tem-' perature sufficient to raise the mixture to a reaction temperature, maintaining the same atthe .55

reaction temperature for a relatively short period of time and then quenching the action by cooling.

The amount of steam, nitrogen or other gas used as the heat transfer agent, diluent and heat dampener is large in order that the reaction may be properly controlled, and is from 30 to 200 or more, preferably 50 to 100, parts by gas volume per 1 part by gas volume of the hydrocarbon gas or vapor to be oxygenated;

The amount of oxygen employed'in the reaction is also of importance in determining the nature and yields of the oxygenated product formed. For the best results, the amount of oxygen employed is that equivalent to that present in 7 to 14, preferably 7 to 10, parts by gas volume-or air per 1 part by gas volume of the hydrocarbon gas or vapor to be oxygenated. By increasing the amount of diluent (steam) present the amount of oxygen employed may be increased. The amount of oxygen may vary between the explosive limits by corresponding variance in the amount of diluent employed.

The heating medium, whether steam, air or a mixture of steam and air, or other diluent, should be raised to suitable temperatures, say, 1000 F. or more, immediately prior to admixture with the hydrocarbons, such that when mixed with the hydrocarbon the resulting temperature will be from 550 to 850 F. and preferably 750 to 800 F. In order to obtain rapid heating of the hydrocarbon and, consequently, rapid reaction, the air and steam and the hydrocarbon-are caused to approach suitable mixing devices at a high velocity so, that the mixing is accompanied by great turbulence.-

1 The reaction is preferably conducted under superatmospheric pressures, say, on the order of 25 to 500 pounds per square inch. Generally, 50

to 200 pounds per square inch pressure are sum; cient to produce the best results.

The time during which the oxygen reaction is permitted to occur should be sufliciently short so as to inhibit the setting in of decomposition reactions that tend to form undesirable products. Ordinarily, the reaction is permitted to proceed for a period of 0.1 to 3 seconds, preferably 0.3 to 0.5 second. The time during which the mass is permitted to remain at thetemperature of reaction is conveniently controlled by spraying or otherwise injecting water or other cooling liquid into the reaction mass in sufficient quantities to quench the gases and vapors so as to reduce the temperature thereof to a point below the decomposition temperature, and preferably below 350 From the resulting products of the above operation, there is distilled off a fraction consisting essentially of acetaldehyde, methyl alcoholyacetone, propyl and butyl alcohol, and a small percent of other non-acidic organic compounds. From this mixture there is separated the acetaldehyde, methyl alcohol and acetone into separate fractions. The remaining fraction consists of about 2 to 4 parts of propyl alcohol, 2 to 4 parts of butyl alcohol and-about 5 parts consisting of a mixture of oxygenated hydrocarbons of a nonacidic nature. This latter fraction is the one I prefer to employ as the solubilizing agent for methyl and ethyl alcohol in gasoline.

The compounding of the anti-knock motor fuel may be performed by adding to a stable gasoline or other fuel base from 0.1 to 1% of the solubilizing agent and mixing the two together. This compounding of the solubilizing agent and the gasoline may be performed in any suitable type of sufiicient to inhibit the separation of the device, for instance, in an agitator, liquid mixer or by adding gradually the solubilizing agent to a turbulently flowing streani of the gasoline. After compounding the solubilizing agent in the gasoline, any suitable quantity of alcohol may be added thereto and mixed therewith into a suitable compound.

It is to be understood that the foregoing detailed description is given merely by way of illustration and that many variations may be made therein without departing from the spirit of my invention.

,The term lower liquid saturated hydrocarbon", as employed hereinafter in the claims, is to be construed as including butane within its scope.

Having described my invention, what I desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. Process for the production of an anti-knock motor fuel, which comprises mixing with gasoline an alcohol having less than three carbon atoms of such nature that it normally tends to separate from its mixture with gasoline and a solubilizing agent comprising that fraction of the products formed by oxygenating a lower liquid saturated hydrocarbon that consists of substantially of 2 to 4 parts of propyl alcohol, 2 to 4 parts of butyl alcohol and 5 parts of a mixture of oxygenated hydrocarbons of a non-acidic nature, the amount of solubilizing agent present being suflicient to inhibit the separation of the gasoline and alcohol.

2. Process for the production of an anti-knock motor fuel, which comprises mixing with gasoline, methyl alcohol of such nature that it normally tends to separate from its mixture with gasoline and a solubilizing agent comprising that fraction of the products formed by oxygenating a lower liquid saturated hydrocarbon that consists of substantially of 2 to 4 parts of propyl alcohol, 2 to 4 parts of butyl alcohol and 5 parts of a mixture of oxygenated hydrocarbons of a non-acidic nature, the amount of solubilizing agent present being gasoline and alcohol.

3. Process for the production of an anti-knock motor fuel, which comprises mixing with gasoline, ethyl alcohol of such nature that it normally tends to separate from its mixture with gasoline and a solubilizing agent comprising that fraction of theproducts formed by oxygenating a lower liquid saturated hydrocarbon that consists of substantially of 2 to 4 parts of propyl alcohol, 2 to 4 parts of butyl alcohol and 5 parts of a mixture of oxygenated hydrocarbons of a non-acidic nature, the amount of solubilizing agent present being sufficient to inhibit the separation of the gasoline and alcohol.

4. Process for the productionof an anti-knock motor fuel, which comprises mixing with gasoline from 3 to 20%, based on the volume of the gasoline,-of an alcohol having less than three carbon atoms of such nature that it normally tends to separate from its mixture with gasoline and a solubilizing agent comprising that fraction of the products formed by oxygenating a lower liquid saturated hydrocarbon that consists of substantially of 2 to 4 parts of propyl alcohol, 2 to 4 parts of butyl alcohol and 5 parts of a mixture of oxygenated hydrocarbons of a non-acidic nature, the

tially of 2 to 4 parts of propyl alcohol, 2 to 4 parts agent comprising that fraction of the products formed by oxygenating butane that consists of substantially of 2 to 4 parts of propyl alcohol, 2 to 4 parts of butyl alcohol and 5 parts of a mixture of oxygenated hydrocarbons of a nonacidic nature, the amount of solubilizing agent present being suflicient to inhibit the separation of the gasoline and alcohol.

6. Process for the production of an anti-knock motor fuel, which comprises mixing with gasoline from 3 to 20%, based on the volume of gasoline,

of an alcohol having less than three carbon atoms of such nature that it normally tends to separate from its mixture with gasoline, and from 0.1 to 1.0% based on the volume of the gasoline, of a solubilizing agent comprising that fraction of the products formed by oxygenating a lower liquid saturated hydrocarbon that consists of substantially of 2 to 4 parts of propyl alcohol, 2 to 4 parts of butyl alcohol and 5 parts of a mixture of oxygenated hydrocarbons of a non-acidic nature, the amount of solubilizing agent present being suflicient to inhibit the separation of the gasoline and alcohol.

7. Process for the production of an anti-knock motor fuel, which comprises mixing with gasoline from 3 to 20%, based on the volume of gasoline of ethyl alcohol of such nature that it normally tends to separate from its mixture with gasoline and from 0.1 to 1.0%, based on the volume of gasoline, of a solubilizing agent comprising that fraction of the products formed by oxy'genating a lower liquid saturated hydrocarbon that consists of substantially of 2 to 4 parts of propyl alcohol, 2 to 4 parts of butyl alcohol and 5 parts of oxygenated hydrocarbons of a theamount of solubilizing of a mixture non-acidic nature,

.agent present being suflicientto inhibit the separation of the gasoline and alcohol.

8. An anti-knock motor fuel comprising gaso line, an alcoholhaving less than three carbon atoms of such nature that-it normally tends to separate from its mixture with gasoline and a 'solubilizing agent comprising that fraction of the products formed by'oxygenating a lower liquid saturated hydrocarbon that consists of substanof butyl alcohol and 5 parts of a mixture of oxygenated hydrocarbons of a non-acidic nature, the amount of solubilizing agent present being sufficient to inhibit the separation of the gasoline and alcohol.

9. An anti-knock motor fuel comprising gasoline, methyl alcohol of such nature that it normally tends to separate from its mixture with gasoline and a solubilizing agent comprising that fraction of the products formed by oxygenating a lower liquid-saturated hydrocarbon that consists of substantially of 2 to 4 parts of propyl alcohol, 2 to 4 parts of butyl alcohol and 5 parts of a mixture ofoxygenated hydrocarbons of a non-acidic nature, the amount of solubilizing agent present beingsuflicient to inhibit the separation of the gasoline and alcohol.

10. An anti-knock motor fuel comprising gasoline, ethyl alcohol of such nature that it normally tends to separate from its, mixture with gasoline and a solubilizing agent comprisingthat fraction of the products formed by oxygenating .a lower liquid saturated hydrocarbon that consists of substantially of 2 to 4 parts of propyl alcohol, 2 to 4 parts of butyl alcohol and 5 parts of a' mixture of oxygenated hydrocarbons of a non-acidic nature, the amount of solubilizing agent present being suflicient to inhibit the separation of the gasoline and alcohol.

11. An anti-knock motor fuel comprising gaso line from 3 to 20%, based on the volume of the gasoline, of an alcohol having less than,three carbon atoms of such nature that it normally tends to separate from its mixture with gasoline and from 0.1 to 1.0%, based on the volume of gasoline, of a solubilizing agent comprising that fraction of the productsformed by oxygenating butane that consists of substantially of 2 to 4 parts of propyl alcohol, 2 to 4 parts of butyl alcohol and 5 parts of a mixture of oxygenated hydrocarbons of a non-acidic nature, the amount of solubilizing agent present being sufficient to inhibit the separation of the gasoline and alcohol.

JOSEPH ELLIOTT BLUDWORTH. 

